Media Ownership Essay

June, 2015:

To what extent does media ownership have an impact on the successful distribution of media products in the media area that you have studied?

PLAN:

• The Big Six – Hollywood has long been ruled by the studio system. The studio system includes a selected number of ‘major’ studios who engage in film production & distribution. They release a substantial number of films every year & earn a major share of box office revenues. With significant changes marking the turning points in Hollywood, the frontrunners become the ‘big’ studios. The current ‘Big Six’ came into being from 1990 to 1995, when Hollywood became more of a conglomerate than a mere film production & distribution unit. The ‘Big Six’ collectively command approximately 80 – 85 percent of US & Canadian box office revenue. These ‘Big Six’ are: 20th Century Fox, Warner Bros., Paramount Pictures, Columbia Pictures, Universal Pictures & Walt Disney Pictures. These film studios dominate both American cinema & the global film industry. Most films that reach the international audience, in multiple continents & in multiple languages, are usually produced and/ or distributed by one of these, thus making them the Big Six.

 

• Skyfall – Tentpole release (Big 6). Skyfall was produced by Eon Productions and distributed by MGM and Columbia Pictures (both owned by Sony). Columbia Pictures is one of the ‘Big Six’. Heineken paid £28 million to the films budget to allow for there product placement in the film and in subsequent film TV ad featuring some of Skyfall’s cast. Heineken backed the marketing of Skyfall with its digital activity on Google and social media marketing on Facebook. Cross media convergence – Sony owns multiple media companies and utilised all of them to help advertise Skyfall (adele song). The production company decided to create publicity by performing a stunt at the london 2012 Olympics opening ceremony involving the queen. Popular worldwide because Sony have the power to distribute their films worldwide. Released in IMAX cinemas because Big Six have the power to do this.
  

  Worldwide Box Office

  $1,110,526,981

• Prometheus – Big Six release. Produced by 20th Century Fox (Big Six) – offered him more money to make the film a PG which he obviously refused as the film has a 12 age certificate. Lindelhof approached fox and told them with his new re-writes they could do this thing for considerably less and apparently the studio agreed with him and cut the budget down to between 100 and 150 Million. Released in IMAX cinemas because Big Six have the power to do this. Film company and cast of the film made videos that went viral to help the marketing of prometheus ( TED talk from the future and robot named David). Released numerous ‘teaser’ trailers to provoke interest in the film.
• Field in England – Independent release (day and date strategy). Film4 and Channel 4 have over the years built up a degree of brand loyalty and an expectation that they will provide quality and innovation.Budget: £316,879, Film4 investment: £316,879, Theatrical: £51,409, DVD Sales: £7,700, First TV TX: £367,000. Released using a day and date release strategy (first time this had been done so gained publicity). The release plan was enthusiastically supported by Channel 4, Film4, Picturehouse Cinemas, the film-makers and cast. The film opened on July 5th on 17 independent cinema screens, on DVD and Blu-Ray, on VOD, and on free-to-air TV through Film4 all at the same time. The individual Picturehouse cinemas helped devise, refine and execute the day and date release strategy and shared the risk with Film4. The innovative release strategy was so unique that it was widely talked about which created interest (especially in fans of Wheatley’s other films) to watch the film. Offered Q&A sessions after cinema screenings which greatly improved theatrical profits. Channel 4 owns a package of channel and was able to advertise the film across them.
• British Guide To Showing Off – Independent release (social media stratergy)  strategy as it had the best methods of running the social media release. Produced a Facebook app called ‘Show Off’. The ‘Show Off’ app provided users the opportunity of editing photos (their or their friends’ Facebook photos or an upload) using a toolkit. Toolkit included costumes and accessories from the Alternative Miss World shows plus other relevant imagery. An Open Source format allowed Users to add their own imagery to the toolkit (following moderation). Upon upload users got the option to download a Happy Club certificate, thereby became members of Andrew Logan’s ‘Happy Club’. All user generated content was shareable via Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and the Send function. The interactive Facebook page included key information on the film, links to cinemas playing the film, and a ‘Show Off’ App. Updating the site at domain britishguidetoshowingoff.com, Essence built a website using promotional imagery attached to the film. The site hosted the film’s trailer, a live Twitter feed and external links to social assets and theatrical venues playing the film. Tweets with the #ShowingOff hashtag, fans questions were answered at a pre- arranged Andrew Logan Twitter Tea Party. Essence controlled all outlets on social media sites. Social media strategy managed by Essence ran from 3rd October 2011 to 27th November 2011, and was managed before and since by the filmmakers, in conjunction with Verve Pictures.

Version 1 of essay:

Hollywood has long been ruled by the studio system. The studio system includes a selected number of ‘major’ studios who engage in film production & distribution. They release a substantial number of films every year and earn a major share of box office revenues. With significant changes marking the turning points in Hollywood, the frontrunners become the ‘big’ studios. The current ‘Big Six’ came into being from 1990 to 1995, when Hollywood became more of a conglomerate than a mere film production and distribution unit. The ‘Big Six’ collectively command approximately 80 – 85 percent of US & Canadian box office revenue. These ‘Big Six’ are: 20th Century Fox, Warner Bros., Paramount Pictures, Columbia Pictures, Universal Pictures & Walt Disney Pictures. These film studios dominate both American and British cinema and the global film industry. Most films that reach the international audience, in multiple continents and in multiple languages, are usually produced and/or distributed by one of these, thus making them the Big Six. The Big Six are considered to have the most power in the film industry.

Tentpole releases are often produced and/or distributed by one of the Big Six. A tentpole release is a film that will almost certainly make back the money that was used in the making of the film. They are films that people know will be big hits and if a tentpole release is not successfully it can ruin a film company. Skyfall is an example of a successful tentpole release. Skyfall was produced by Eon Productions and distributed by MGM and Columbia Pictures who are both owned by Sony. Columbia Pictures are part of the Big Six. Skyfall had a huge budget for the production of the film, with the beer company Heineken paying £28 million for product placement in the film and in subsequent film TV ad featuring some of Skyfall’s cast. Heineken also backed the marketing of Skyfall with its digital activity on Google and social media marketing on Facebook. Skyfall also generated interest in the film with a stunt involving the queen at the London 2012 olympic opening ceremony, this is clearly a huge event that any film company that is not part of the Big Six would struggle to achieve as they would not have the power to be part of something as big as the olympics. But with the amount of people that watch the Olympics it was a great way to market the film. Sony also used cross media convergence in the advertising of Skyfall as Sony owns multiple media companies and used them to its advantage, for example the Adele song. Adele is an artist under sony’s record label and also produced the theme song for Skyfall. This song was very popular and made UK number 1 so helped market the film by spreading awareness of the film. Being part of the Big Six, Columbia Pictures had the ability to distribute the film worldwide and in IMAX cinemas. Skyfall made $1,110,526,981 in Worldwide Box Office. Skyfall was distributed very successfully and was very popular among UK audiences, this being due to the fact that it was marketed very well and Sony had a huge budget to spend on the film.

Prometheus is another film that was produced by one of the Big Six, 20th Century Fox. This film was also released in IMAX cinemas because again 20th Century Fox have the power to do this with being part of the Big Six. Prometheus was marketed very well as the film company and cast of the film made videos that went viral to help the marketing of prometheus. They made a TED talk from the future and a couple of videos about a robot named David, they also released numerous ‘teaser’ trailers that provoked interest in the film and encouraged people to go see it. 20th Century Fox offered Ridley Scott more money to make the film a PG which he obviously refused as the film has a 12 age certificate. Lindelhof approached fox and told them with his new re-writes they could do this thing for considerably less and apparently the studio agreed with him and cut the budget down to between 100 and 150 Million. This was not a problem though as the film still made $403,354,469 worldwide.

in contrast to these film releases by big film companies is a Field In England, an independent film that was released in a very unique way. A Field In England was distributed by Film4. Film4 and Channel 4 have over the years built up a degree of brand loyalty and an expectation that they will provide quality and innovation. Channel 4 owns a package of channel and was able to advertise the film across them. The film was released using a Day and Date release strategy.The release plan was enthusiastically supported by Channel 4, Film4, Picturehouse Cinemas, the film-makers and cast. The film opened on July 5th on 17 independent cinema screens, on DVD and Blu-Ray, on VOD, and on free-to-air TV through Film4 all at the same time. The individual Picturehouse cinemas helped devise, refine and execute the day and date release strategy and shared the risk with Film4. The innovative release strategy was so unique that it was widely talked about which created interest, especially in fans of Wheatley’s other films, to watch the film. Wheatley offered Q&A sessions after cinema screenings which greatly improved theatrical profits. A Field In England was the first film to use this release strategy and that is one of the main reasons it was successful because it was new and made people talk about the film. This means that the strategy probably wouldn’t work for other films.

Another independent film that was released in a unique was is A British Guide To Showing Off. Verve Pictures were the distributor of this film. Verve Pictures were looking for a social media agency to handle the strategy for the release of the film. Of the 4 companies that pitched to Verve Pictures, Essence was the chosen partner to handle the release strategy. Essence had the best central idea, and the best methods of running the overall campaign. Essence produced a Facebook app called ‘Show Off’. The ‘Show Off’ app provided users the opportunity of editing photos (their or their friends’ Facebook photos or an upload) using a toolkit. Toolkit included costumes and accessories from the Alternative Miss World shows plus other relevant imagery. An Open Source format allowed Users to add their own imagery to the toolkit (following moderation). Upon upload users got the option to download a Happy Club certificate, thereby became members of Andrew Logan’s ‘Happy Club’. All user generated content was shareable via Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and the Send function. The interactive Facebook page included key information on the film, links to cinemas playing the film, and a ‘Show Off’ App. Updating the site at domain britishguidetoshowingoff.com, Essence built a website using promotional imagery attached to the film. The site hosted the film’s trailer, a live Twitter feed and external links to social assets and theatrical venues playing the film. Tweets with the #ShowingOff hashtag, fans questions were answered at a pre- arranged Andrew Logan Twitter Tea Party. Essence controlled all outlets on social media sites. Social media strategy managed by Essence ran from 3rd October 2011 to 27th November 2011, and was managed before and since by the filmmakers, in conjunction with Verve Pictures. The social media release was important for the marketing of A British Guide To Showing Off. It raised awareness of the film in a fun way and got people talking so therefore was quite successful.

The Big Six film companies find it easier to successfully distribute films because they have the money and power to do so. They can utilise many types of media and push their films into cinemas worldwide. However for independent films they have to be more creative to be successful in their distribution. They have to use unique strategies to raise awareness, usually by word of mouth. The more people they get talking about the film or the way it’s released or what they’ve seen on social media, the more people will go and see the film in cinemas and buy the film on DVD and VOD and therefore the more likely the film is to be successful and make back its money.

 

Special Correspondents

Release Date: 29 April 2016 (USA)

Production companies: 

• Bron Studios
• Unanimous Entertainment

Distributors

• Netflix (2016)

Marketing

On the same day as the film’s release date was announced, four stills from Special Correspondents were released, featuring the characters of Eric Bana, Ricky Gervais, Vera Farmiga, Kelly Macdonald, America Ferrera, and Raúl Castillo. Gervais debuted the first official trailer on his Twitter account on 23 March 2016. A second trailer was released on 12 April 2016.

Release

In November 2014, it was reported that Sony Pictures Worldwide Acquisitions had purchased the rights to the film for territories including the UK, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, and Latin America. In April 2015, it was announced that Netflix had pre-bought the global distribution rights to the film for roughly $12 million. Special Correspondents will receive its world premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival on 22 April 2016, followed by an audience discussion with Gervais, Bana and additional cast members. The film will be released worldwide on 29 April 2016.

The film is only being released on Netflix, there is no theatrical release which makes it a more unique release strategy.

 

 

The Inbetweeners Movie

Release Date: 17 August 2011 (UK)

Budget: £3,500,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend: $35,955 (USA) (7 September 2012)

Gross: $35,955 (USA) (7 September 2012)

Media Ownership:

Production Companies:

• Film4 (presents)
• Young Films
• Bwark Productions

Bwark Production: Advised to sell to Zodiak Media in the interest of shareholders. The sale to Zodiak group would allow the producers/founders of Bwark films to access a global network. It would also put them in a better position to fund and distribute future comedy shows/films.

4DVD released the DVD and Blu-Ray on December 12, 2011 in the UK.

New Technologies:

The film was advertised on social media sites such as twitter and Facebook. Parody accounts were made of the characters on twitter.

The film was available to rent on Film4OD as the series was original broadcast on Channel 4 stations.

When looking to buy the film on Amazon a link was available to rent the film on LoveFilm.

The DVD included lots of special features such as a ‘making-of’ documentary, footage from the films London Premiere, various deleted scenes, cast commentaries and a blooper real. The Blu-Ray release also features an extended cut of the film that restores approximately 4 minutes of material omitted from theatrical release, most notably an additional scene in which Will and Simon encounter a drunken Mr Gilbert on a Malia stag weekend. Asda released the film with a bonus disc consisting of video diaries from the cast. This attracted more people to buying the Blu-Ray even fi they saw the film in theatrical release.

A soundtrack from the film was also released on iTunes and the cast of the film did interviews on different radio stations such as Absolute Radio.

Digital Distribution:

Entertainment Film distributors had the rights to the film for cinema exhibition. Channel 4 retained the rights for sales on the DVD market.

The release date of the summer holidays (at DVD release at christmas) allowed many of the target audience of 15-25 year olds to go and see the film at the cinema in the school holidays or receive the DVD for christmas and watch it over the festive period.

The most popular cinema screenings of The Inbetweeners Movie came from suburban areas such as Kent, Crawley and Romford. This links to the TV series that was set in suburbia.

The Inbetweeners Movie was advertised on the Golden Wonder pot noodle where you could win a trip to Malia, where the characters went on a ‘lads holiday’ in the film. The T-shirts the group wore in the film also became quite popular and with them being quite a rude, outstanding design, it caught peoples attention and therefore also advertised the film.

 

 

 

The British Guide To Showing Off

Release date: 11/11/2011

Media Ownership:

Verve Pictures were the distributor of this film. Verve Pictures were looking for a social media agency to handle the strategy for the release of the film, and in particular one key idea, which would drive the social media strategy. Adopting a Mavens Marketing Strategy, they looked to draw upon mavens and influencers/tastemakers to create a two way stream of information via digital social networks. The campaign focused on encouraging to transform themselves and ‘show off’, in keeping with the spirit of the film. The core message/immersive element of ‘Showing Off’ was driven by the Transform Yourself app.

Key elements of the film included: art, music, fashion, film, comedy, LGBT, drag, club scene, folk, theatre, performance entertainment, and Verve looked to build a Mavens Marketing Network in these area. With the innovative distribution strategy at the heart, it was hoped the end result would be a widespread, excited and engaged audience of people who enjoy modern art, alternative lifestyles, and the eccentricities of British humour.

Essence was the chosen partner to handle the release strategy. They had a total of 4 social media agencies pitch to them , and Essence had the best central idea, and the best methods of running the overall campaign.

New Technologies:

The Facebook App

 The app, to be called ‘Show Off’, will be hosted on The British Guide To Showing Off Facebook page.

 The ‘Show Off’ app provided users the opportunity of editing photos (their or their friends’ Facebook photos or an upload) using a toolkit. Toolkit included costumes and accessories from the Alternative Miss World (AMW) shows plus other relevant imagery. An Open Source format allowed Users to add their own imagery to the toolkit (following moderation).

 In a separate function, users were able to add their own imagery into predetermined areas of existing AMW imagery, utilising photo layering functionality. Users’ imagery sat under existing imagery and be movable and scalable as desired.

 Upon upload users got the option to download a Happy Club certificate, thereby became members of Andrew Logan’s ‘Happy Club’.

 All user generated content (UGC) was shareable via Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and the Send function.

 All UGC appeared within the App’s gallery. The gallery was filtered by ‘Latest’, ‘Popular’, ‘My Creations’ and ‘Friends and I’.

Additional social media strategy Channels of engagement:

 Facebook – This was the hub of the community, leveraging the many native tools via which content could be shared rapidly and effectively with the fanbase. The interactive page included key information on the film, links to cinemas playing the film, and a ‘Show Off’ App.

 Website – Updating the site at domain britishguidetoshowingoff.com, Essence built a website using promotional imagery attached to the film. The site hosted the film’s trailer, a live Twitter feed and external links to social assets and theatrical venues playing the film. All efforts were made to optimise the site’s SEO.

 Twitter – tweets with the #ShowingOff hashtag, fans questions were answered at a pre- arranged Andrew Logan Twitter Tea Party.

 Flickr – hosted photo community featuring images from Alternative Miss World shows and the app.

 YouTube – build page, used to share the trailer and other associated video content.

 All outlets were fully and constantly monitored by Essence so they could respond and build a community. This was done with input from the filmmakers and Verve Pictures.

 

Digital Distribution:

Costs/release budget

 Build of app and social media pages/platforms £28,772.00

 Advertising/production £4,949.00

 Leaflets/flyers £1,619.00

 Q&A costs £1,471.20

 Digital/access costs £550.00

 Box office / 2,322 admissions / £15,693 total gross

Timeline

 Social media strategy managed by Essence ran from 3rd October 2011 to 27th November 2011, and was managed before and since by the filmmakers, in conjunction with Verve Pictures.

 Prior to the start of the campaign, Essence produced a timeline with clear timeframes of what content should be released when, and what were the key parts of information to push and prioritise at which point.

 The campaign was started 6 weeks prior to the London release date and 8 weeks prior to the nationwide release date, which was the window of time recommended by Essence and worked well in terms of engaging people through the social media strategy

Unexpected problems encountered

 Slight delay of 2-3 days due to problems with the functionality of the app on launch.

 Delay in getting functionality amended throughout the campaign by Essence.

Skyfall

Director: Sam Mendes

Release Date: 9 November 2012 (USA)

Budget: $200,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend: $88,364,714 (USA) (9 November 2012)

Gross: $304,360,277 (USA) (8 March 2013)

Production Companies: Eon Productions

UK Distribution:Sony Pictures International (2012) (UK) (theatrical)

Media Ownership:

Skyfall was produced by Eon Productions and distributed by MGM and Columbia Pictures (both owned by Sony). Heineken paid £28 million to the films budget to allow for there product placement in the film and in subsequent film TV ad featuring some of Skyfall’s cast.

 

New Technologies: 

Skyfall was the first Bond film to be shot digitally, as well as Sam Mendes’ first digital experience. It is also the first production anywhere to make use of ALEXA studio cameras.

Heinken backed the marketing of Skyfall with its digital activity on Google and social media marketing on Facebook.

The Skyfall song by Adele helped advertise the film greatly as it was number one in the charts and extremely popular.

The film was advertised on posters posted everywhere and was featured on the front page of magazines suuch as Empire, Entertainment and GO.

Skyfall is a good example of where cross media convergence is used. Sony owns multiple media companies and used all its resources to help advertise Skyfall. For example the song by Adele is a was of using music with film.

Digital Distribution:

Skyfall was the first Bond film to be screened on IMAX although it was not filmed with IMAX cameras. The film release coincided with the Bond films 50th anniversary.

Around $75,000,000 was spent on marketing Skyfall.

The most outstanding piece of marketing was James Bond’s stunt with the queen at the 2012 London Olympics opening ceremony.

Theatrical Performance
Domestic Box Office	$304,360,277
International Box Office	$806,166,704
Worldwide Box Office	$1,110,526,981
Home Market Performance
Domestic DVD Sales	$47,791,090
Domestic Blu-ray Sales	$52,408,139
Total Domestic Video Sales	$100,199,229

Prometheus

Following clues to the origin of mankind a team journey across the universe and find a structure on a distant planet containing a monolithic statue of a humanoid head and stone cylinders of alien blood but they soon find they are not alone.

Director: Ridley Scott 

Release Date: 8 June 2012 (USA)

Budget: $130,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend: $51,050,101 (USA) (8 June 2012)

Gross: $126,464,904 (USA) (14 September 2012)

Widest Release: 3,442 theaters

Close Date: September 20th 2012

In Release: 105 days/15 weeks

Production Companies

• Twentieth Century Fox
• Dune Entertainment
• Scott Free Productions
• Brandywine Productions

New Technologies:

Prometheus generated a huge online campaign through posting videos that went viral. Due to Scott’s previous success with SciFi films he already had a big online fan base.

The film had a great marketing campaign as the people involved along with the cast would make videos to help the films promotion. Fortunately, these video went viral and due to so many people talking about these videos, the film generated a lot more interest. The first of the videos was a TED talk from the future. The second one is about David, a robot who understands human emotions that he does not feel, and who is creepily life like. The third is almost a little movie into itself. We learn a lot about David and the world he lives and works in and the video is just incredibly entertaining. The popularity of these videos provided a  huge boost to the advertising of Prometheus. Prometheus enjoyed a prominent and persistent promotional campaign that was also highly innovative. There were numerous trailers, teaser trailers, ‘making of’s’, clips, viral clips, viral ads, images, posters and exclusive set reports.

RSA Films: ‘Prometheus’ box office success was predated by an internationally acclaimed viral marketing campaign targeted at bringing viewers into the world of the film. Alongside the creative team at Ignited, we utilized innovative guerrilla marketing strategies that resulted in three billion media impressions worldwide. Our groundbreaking campaign won three Cannes Lions, two D&AD Pencils, and both Gold and Silver BTAA Arrows with Luke Scott taking home silver for his Prometheus TED Conference, and Johnny Hardstaff striking gold with his viral David.’

Media Ownership:

20th Century Fox, Dune Entertainment, Scott Free Productions and Brandywine Productions are the production companies that produced Prometheus. 20th Century Fox being the main company in financing the film. Scott asked for $250 million from Fox and they offered him more money too make the film a PG which he obviously refused as the film has a 12 age certificate. However Lindelhof approached fox and told them with his new re-writes they could do this thing for considerably less and apparently the studio agreed with him and cut the budget down to between 100 and 150 Million..except…there are now some serious reports…which indicates Scott finished this entire thing on a budget compromise with FOX of $200 million even, and not the 100-150 million that was being reported.

Digital Distribution:

RSA was the company that was most involved with the advertising of the film. People said that they got annoyed with all the videos and trailers being released about the film as it gave too much away. However the advertising using these video has proven to be successful.

The IMAX release of Prometheus will be digitally re-mastered into the image and sound quality of The IMAX 3D Experience® with proprietary IMAX DMR® (Digital Re-mastering) technology. The crystal-clear images coupled with IMAX’s customized theatre geometry and powerful digital audio create a unique environment that will make audiences feel as if they are in the movie.

Prometheus from robertclackmedia

 

Media Ownership

“The Big Six”

Hollywood has long been ruled by the studio system. The studio system includes a selected number of ‘major’ studios who engage in film production & distribution. They release a substantial number of films every year & earn a major share of box office revenues.

With significant changes marking the turning points in Hollywood, the frontrunners become the ‘big’ studios. The current ‘Big Six’ came into being from 1990 to 1995, when Hollywood became more of a conglomerate than a mere film production & distribution unit.

The ‘Big Six’ collectively command approximately 80 – 85 percent of US & Canadian box office revenue. These ‘Big Six’ are: 20th Century Fox, Warner Bros., Paramount Pictures, Columbia Pictures, Universal Pictures & Walt Disney Pictures. Of these, 20th Century Fox, Warner Bros., and Paramount Pictures were part of the original ‘Big Five’ who operated during the Golden Age of Hollywood (late 1920s to mid-1940s). The other three –Columbia Pictures, Universal Pictures & Walt Disney Pictures earned the market share much later.

Warner Bros. Pictures
Warner Bros. Pictures stands at the forefront of the entertainment industry. In 2013, Warner Bros. ruled the movie world with a market share of $5.03 billion globally*. Some of the biggest releases of the studio this year include The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug, Gravity, and Man of Steel. They also set a new record as the only studio to exceed $1B for 13 years running*. A few other titles that made Warner Bros. the # 1 name in the film industry include the Harry Potter series, the Superman series, The Matrix series & Star Wars.

20th Century Fox
20th Century Fox is the world’s second largest film studio after Warner Bros. The studio has distributed various commercially successful films, including Avatar, Ice Age, X-Men, Die Hard, Planet of the Apes, Night at the Museum, and Fantastic Four, securing them their position as one of the Big Six studios of Hollywood. As the first studio to reach the $1 billion mark in gross domestic revenue in 2014#, and with enormous earnings by the end of the year, the studio’s stunning turnaround easily surpass its previous records.

Paramount Pictures
Paramount Pictures is the longest operating major studio in Hollywood. It has a century of experience in finest production services from development of story idea to post production. In 2014, Paramount Pictures became the first major Hollywood studio to distribute all its films in digital-form only.

Universal Pictures
Universal Pictures or Universal Studios is best known for three of Steven Spielberg’s biggest hits – Jaws, E.T., and Jurassic Park, each of which became the highest-grossing film ever at the time of its release. The massive backlot of the Universal Studios is used by other film studios including Walt Disney. Parts of Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest, and the recreation of Whitecap Bay for Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides were both shot at Universal Studios backlot.

Sony Pictures Entertainment (earlier known as Columbia-Tristar Pictures)
Sony Pictures Entertainment (SPE) operates Columbia TriStar Motion Picture Group, Screen Gems, Sony Pictures Classics, and TriStar Pictures. The studio enjoyed its best year in terms of box-office grosses in 2012, with its films collecting US$ 4.4 billion in ticket sales. SPE has produced, distributed, or co-distributed successful film series including Spider-Man, Men in Black, Underworld, and Resident Evil.

Walt Disney Studios
The Walt Disney Studio’s multi-faceted film division produced some groundbreaking films, such as Snow White & the Seven Dwarfs, the first full-length animated movie, and Pinocchio, a film with intricate levels of technical brilliance in animation, that made the studio stand apart. Over the decades, Disney Studio introduced numerous technologies in animation & live action films. Disney’s Steamboat Willie was the first animated film to have synchronized sound & image, Flowers and Trees was the first in the genre with three-strip Technicolor, and Fantasia was the first film to use a multi-channel sound system called Fantasound.

These film studios dominate both American cinema & the global film industry. Most films that reach the international audience, in multiple continents & in multiple languages, are usually produced and/ or distributed by one of these, thus making them the Big Six.

Global conglomerates

Global conglomerates are big international media companies that own mass media products such as film, TV, radio, magazines, book, etc. 2 examples of top global conglomerates would be:

Bertelsmann SE & Co. KGaA

German media giant Bertelsmann have nearly $21 billion in revenue and over $800 million generated in profit. The flagship media company in Europe makes its name with assets that include the RTL Group, one of the biggest television broadcasters in Europe; Gruner + Jahr, the biggest magazine publisher in Europe; and Random House, the biggest book publisher in the world. It has a multifaceted approach to media ownership and great standing in Europe.

Comcast Corporation

Comcast is your top dog amongst media conglomerates in 2013, as the only company to reach over $6 billion in profit and with nearly 50% more revenue than nearest competitor Walt Disney in 2012, having earned over $62.5 billion. Comcast received its biggest boost in trying to rise to no. 1 in taking over NBC Universal in 2010, which also gave them a significant advantage over Disney who still have yet ascend its own cable news network (ABC News) to a level where it can compete with the likes of Comcast owned MSNBC.

Comcast also does battle with Disney on the movie and theme park with Universal Studios. Comcast will add a significant asset to its NBC Sports division when it begins broadcasting Barclays Premier League matches live in August, a deal they secured with a three-year $240 million dollar offer.

Cross-media ownership and cross-media convergence

Media cross-ownership is the ownership of multiple media businesses by a person or corporation. These businesses can include broadcast and cable television, film, radio, newspaper, magazine, book publishing, music, video games, and various online entities.

Cross media convergence is where different types of technology come together to produce new technology. For example Sony and Ericsson.

Concentration of ownership

concentration of ownership means that a very small number of corporations are controlling an increasing amount of the media industry. This is a problem that more significant now than ever before.

Synergy and symbiosis

Synergy is the combined working together of two or more parts of a system so that the combined effect is greater than the sum of the efforts of the parts. In business and technology, the term describes a hoped-for or real effect resulting from different individuals, departments, or companies working together and stimulating new ideas that result in greater productivity.

Symbiosis is about different medium working together for each other’s benefit. For example, a book is a medium. It is transformed into a play and shown in a theatre. Then, a production house makes a movie based on the play. Again, a television company uses the movie for its operation time. Here, different media like book, theatre, film, television work with each other and gain benefit.

Vertical and horizontal integration

Vertical integration is where an institution has shares or owns each part of the production and distribution process.

Horizontal integration is where an organisation develops by buying up competitors in the same section of the market e.g. one music publisher buys out other smaller music publishers.

A Field In England Piktochart